Just had an email from a business in Sri Lanka which provides an outsourcing service to handle my clients' bookkeeping and payroll functions. It must think that I have a large practice. I do know that some accountancy practices do that but it's not something that I would ever do. The startling thing about their email was their charge rate - £3 per hour. The national minimum age in the UK is £6-70 (for those 21 & over) at present, and the living wage from April is £7-20 (that's for those over 25). Apart from the fact I don't need to outsource, there's the issues over reliability and confidentiality, and the moral issue that any UK accountant using that service is depriving someone in the UK of work.